ExxonMobil works to tap Europe market

Published 6:00 pm, Tuesday, November 1, 2005

Lisa Waters, an Adriatic LNG project manager for the multi-national corporation, is in charge of building the first off-shore terminal in Spain.

Once the project is completed, it will be towed across the Mediterranean Sea to be parked in the Adriatic Sea, west of Venice.

"This will be our entry point to the European gas market," Waters said. "This project will be the first time ExxonMobil plugs into the main European power grid."

Liquefied natural gas is natural gas that is chilled to a very low negative Fahrenheit temperature, converting it into a liquid.

The liquid can then be shipped in cryogenic steel vessels overseas as it is constantly chilled and controlled to keep it liquid.

Sixty such carriers of liquefied natural gas are expected industrywide in the next two years, Waters said, as the demand for liquefied natural gas is expected to increase five times over the next 20 years.

Waters said after World War II, there was a large campaign in the United States for energy companies to build pipelines to move natural gas, though the energy source still lagged behind coal.

"Natural gas is one of the cleanest burning fuels, it was plentiful and inexpensive to develop with pipelines," Waters said of the post-World War II era. "But now domestic gas production is in decline, and imports are needed to fill the gap."

Waters said the industry is now moving to liquefied natural gas because of the increased costs associated with building pipelines.

But because liquefied natural gas is still a relatively new technology, Waters said some communities are concerned about housing liquefied natural gas terminals that will receive imports.

She said ExxonMobil is committed to "openness" and "transparency" and often hosts public information meetings so concerned citizens can learn more about the technology.

"We spend a lot of time educating people about liquefied natural gas and how we can do it safely," Waters said. "Safety is our top priority. liquefied natural gas tankers have logged 90,000 voyages - and more than 100 million miles - without a significant incident. LNG is not pressurized, and less volatile than gasoline."